Roads We Choose
by Amberprice19
Summary: Rachel and Chloe decide to leave Arcadia Bay, willing to leave their past behind and start all over. Rachel/Chloe / Amberprice
1. Come with me

**Disclaimer**

 _I do not own any of the characters from Life Is Strange._

 _All rights belong to their creators._

 ** _An/A:_**

English is not my mother tongue, so my story may contain language mistakes.

I try my best.

* * *

 **Chapter 1**

„Who cares if the stars are dead?", Rachel whispered and pulled herself tighter to Chloe. „As long as we can see them, they are real to us…right?"

"Right", Chloe answered and wrapped her arm around Rachel's lower body. Rachel grabbed Chloe's hand behind her neck. It was comfortable and it felt so…fucking normal. Just like it has been this way for years. Holding Rachel in her arm right next to her, watching the glowing stars at the ceiling, felt simply magical. Maybe one day they would be lying on Chloe's truck bed at some beach somewhere far away looking at the real stars at night.

„What a fucked up day.", Rachel stated and broke the silence between them. „Hella.", Chloe agreed with a smile and felt Rachel squeezing her hand in amusement.

„You like that word, huh?"

„Hella, yeah.", she replied, turning her head to her girl. Her nose almost touched Rachel's ear with that ice blue feather earring.

„It tickles.", Rachel said without any more precise information.

„What tickles, Amber?"

„Your breath, Price. It tickles."

„Deducted from the fact that you didn't move your head yet to escape this terrifying situation, I tend to think you like it."

„Deduction might be correct." A smile hushed over her face which was still full of wet streaks.

„Sooo…", Chloe moved her hand, glad about Rachel's smile, and gently followed the shape of Rachel's chin until she reached her ear, „What would happen if I did this?" She slightly bit Rachel's ear and earned a sharp inhale as an answer.

"Wow, there you go!", Chloe laughed. This time she received an elbow hitting her abdomen lightly.

"Chloe?"

"Rachel?"

"I am serious."

"About what?

"Let's bail. Tonight."

Chloe pulled herself up a bit to look directly into the other girl's eyes.

"What about your mum?"

"We can still search for her out there when we vanished. And we don't even know if we will find her at all. Why should we give up our plans for this? Even if my mum is still out there wanting to meet me – this is nothing which makes me want to stay home. Let's search for her, but let's bail, too, I am serious."

All of a sudden, every sign of sadness and desperation seemed disappeared. In her eyes glowed the same fire and certainty than before this... momentous dinner when they first made their escape plans.

"Rachel, you need to decide what you want to do or don't want to do. But whatever you decide, remember, I'm in. I am with you. No matter what."

"I need to leave, Chloe. For real I can't...I can't handle everything like before as if nothing ever happened. And I don't want to. So you will join me?"

"I will.", Chloe stated and gently wiped away the last traces of tears from Rachel's cheek. She closed her eyes and seemed to feel comfortable with the touch. Chloe stroke her face definitely longer than necessary. Her skin was too soft to resist.

"Last time I wanted you to escape with me to nowhere you asked for a kiss."

"Is what I hear the completely unsuspicious try to get the chance of kissing me again?"

Chloe didn't know why, but flirting with Rachel was something, she could definitely get used to.

"No, it's not.", Rachel replied and opened her eyes, "I need you to give me a proof this time. I dare you to kiss me now." She stared directly into Chloe's eyes.

Chloe didn't think a second about it. She pulled Rachel's face closer to hers and gently but assertive pressed her lips on Rachel's again.

The feeling was even more intense than the last time if this was even possible because she didn't feel insecure anymore. For the duration of this kiss, none of them thought about any of their problems. They just expressed all the love they felt for each other. A kiss made it needless to confess any of their feelings.

It took minutes until they fully separated.

"We leave tonight.", Chloe said and pulled Rachel tight against her. "Together."

Minutes after they stood up from Rachel's bed, they were ready to leave. At least Rachel packed everything useful into her travel bag, which she had missed so far before dinner. Chloe was surprised by the amount of stuff, Rachel put into a seemingly small bag. Next to clothes for at least two or three weeks, she packed her money, hygienic stuff for the two of them and some other things like the flashlight Chloe had used for the artificial sky, some lighters and – which was the most surprising – two knives she had scammed out of her father´s hunting equipment earlier this day.

"I hope we will just need to use them to sharpen our marshmallow sticks for the daily campfires.", she added while putting the knives into a small extra pocket of the bag. Chloe swallowed at this one.

"Rachel Amber and a fire? What could possibly go wrong?"

"For fuck's sake, I did not intentionally lit the whole park.", she claimed, but as she saw Chloe's smirk, her angry face softened.

"Will we share my clothes or do you need to return to your home first anyway?"

"I never feel the need to return home.", Chloe said and laughed bitterly.

"So?"

"Doesn't matter for me. But I could indeed grab a few useful things from my place before we vanish..."

"Fine. Then we make a stop at your place and pick up the truck afterward?"

"Sounds great. We can luckily sneak through the window to my room, so my mum and step-ass won't have the chance to lock us up, as I locked my room's door in wise forethought." Chloe winked and grabbed for Rachel's bag.

"You know what, Chloe? Everything was so fucked up today and my whole life is a lie and everything, but...you have no idea how happy I am we really do this. This is something I can really look forward to."

"I know exactly how you feel. Same goes for me."

"You ready?", Chloe asked. Rachel nodded and she offered Rachel her arm, which she accepted willingly.

"You gentle-nerd.", she said with a laugh in her voice.

"You know what you will tell your parents?", Chloe asked very quietly on their way down the stairs.

There was no chance for Rachel to answer as her mother just walked along directly in front of the stairs, recognizing her daughter and Chloe. She looked questioning at both of them as she hadn't expected Rachel to be this much better already.

"I will have a sleepover with Chloe tonight, mum.", she said like nothing ever happened at all this evening. Chloe admired her talent for acting even though Rachel hated doing it.

"Uh...", Rose seemed surprised for a moment, but she nodded, "Sure, maybe this is a good idea. See you tomorrow, sweetheart." She gave Rachel and Chloe a quick hug and walked into the kitchen. Chloe had to swallow at Rose's last sentence. She felt a hand grabbing for hers and Rachel pulled her with her outside into the night.

"You think I am a nerd?", Chloe asked and continued the conversation they had before. She tried to ignore this intense feeling in her stomach springing from Rachel's hand in hers. It felt so fucking good.

"A bit. I know you played with Steph and Mickey."

"Hah, speaking of that, you know what?"

"No, but I bet you are gonna tell me."

"You know me too well, Amber. Steph asked me if you were a gamer. Like...tabletop games and shit."

"Umm, why did she ask you?"

"She saw the firewalk pic of us on...where the fuck you uploaded that, whatever...she seemed to think we´re friends, so I could know that."

"We and friends? What a stupid thought.", Rachel said and they both laughed.

"No, but seriously, why did she want to know? It's not like we're even talking besides class..."

Chloe wondered if she should tell Rachel about Steph's feelings towards her. She knew Steph wasn't planning to make a move on Rachel anymore since she had talked to Chloe about it, but - fuck it – they would never ever return to that BlackHell so no Steph and awkward confrontations ever again.

"I think she wanted to know if you are open for this nerd stuff because she crushes you..."

Rachel made the same expression as back on the train when Chloe made that V-Card joke. Her eyes widened and she stared at Chloe with a face full of unbelieve.

"You aren't serious, are you?"

"I am deadly serious."

"Well...", her face calmed down, "too bad I already have a girlfriend.", she said, grabbing again for Chloe's hand which she released in shock about the Steph-thing.

"Oh yeah? But who might this be?", Chloe smirked, desperately trying to cover her inside flipping out about the fact Rachel just called her her girlfriend.

"You know...there is this one girl I somehow just met at a concert. And when I asked her to ditch school with me and she did, we had the greatest time ever. And she was there for me when I found out my dad was a liar. But all above this I truly fell for her that night when she not just saved the school play, we had made the best bailing plans and kissed, I fell for her when I felt so lost, she just got that beautiful sky into my room, showing me why to go on and made me feel safe in her arms although everything else seems to break."

Chloe had stopped walking with Rachel's last words. The bag full of escaping equipment fell out of her hand. As they were still holding hands, Rachel stopped walking, too, and turned around. Rachel saw the tears in Chloe's eyes and made a step towards her, gently stroking her girl's cheek. Chloe, touched by Rachel's words, had no other choice than hugging Rachel tight. She pulled the other girl's head gently to her shoulder. They stood like this for a long time. This was exactly what they needed at this time. And all they wanted.

"I love you.", Chloe whispered into Rachel's ear, trembling as she waited for her reaction.

 _Too far? Too early?_

"I love you, too, Chloe Price."

* * *

 _I am happy about any feedback. The story is still in progress, so if you have any suggestions, feel free to tell me._


	2. Take me somewhere far

**Chapter 2**

It had been easy to sneak into Chloe's room. A leg up next to the garage made it easy to climb onto its flat roof and it was even easier to enter the room through the window. Chloe had sneaked out this way more than once. David's car was not in sight, too, so Chloe doubted he and Joyce were even home, but they didn't want to risk it. While Chloe searched for a few items and emptied her drawers of clothes into another travel bag, Rachel stood in the middle of her girlfriend's room and looked at the large number of posters hung up the walls. She was kind of fascinated by Chloe's room, but she also raised her eyebrow about the condition of Chloe's desk. She wondered if Chloe had ever done her homework, as not an inch of the desk was free from stuff. Definitely no school stuff though.

"I am ready.", Chloe whispered after a while. With no hesitation, they grabbed their bags and left the same way they came in.

That was kinda far too easy.

Chloe's street was very dark. Only a few lanterns lightened up the street now and then. Most of the time the two girls appeared as a shadow lovers couple. It took almost half an hour of walking until they finally arrived at the junkyard. Chloe noticed that Rachel steadily clutched her hand since they left her parents´ home. It was too dark to see further than a few feet.

Rachel stopped and searched for something in her travel bag. Seconds later a flashlight brightened up their surroundings. "I am glad I kept this hiking survival set all those years.", Rachel said while she closed the bag and stood up with the lamp in her free hand, "Although I never climbed any mountain again after my accident." She gave the light to Chloe.

"I thought you still like it?", Chloe wondered as she remembered Rachel mentioning she wanted to climb the Everest someday.

"Theoretically, yeah, but mum was concerned about what happened, so my dad and I never went on a trip like this again. And I have no one to come with me." She stuttered a bit while calling Mr. and Mrs. Amber "mum" and "dad", but she did.

"You never asked me."

"Fine.", she rolled her eyes dramatically, "I had no one who would join me. And in fact, I forgot to ask you the last two days we´ve known each other already." She gave herself a huge facepalm. "What a fool I am to not think of this!"

"Indeed!", Chloe agreed and Rachel linked arms with her, as she had no free had left now because of the flashlight, "I mean, you even stumbled into a relationship somehow in those last two days, so…" Chloe shrugged and they remained silent for a short while.

"Wait, what? You actually are into hiking?", Rachel interrupted the quiet.

"Nah, I dunno, but I guess this is what couples do, huh? Quality time activities?" Rachel bumped into Chloe while walking instead of giving an answer. "Hey, I won´t encumber you with the vexation of spending time with me.", she sulked and turned her head aggrieved away from Chloe with theatrical perfection.

"I can ensure you, that _**you**_ would be the best part about it, though.", Chloe laughed. Rachel joined it and they continued their way through the junk until they reached the truck.

"So, this is the car you will take me on dates with?", Rachel joked and hit the hood with her hand after they stored the bags on the truck bed.

"I will see if I can rustle up a tandem for us if you'd prefer that…"

"What a great idea!", Rachel approved and made a move to sit down in the car, but the door was stuck. She knocked at the dirty window, but Chloe´s attempts to unlock the door from the inside also failed.

"It seems like you have to make a move on me then." Chloe said with a kinky smile.

"Not like I did that already today or anything…", Rachel gave back and walked around the car to enter it from the driver's side. She opened the door and climbed over Chloe´s lap, being more touchy than necessary. When she tried to go further to her own seat, Chloe blocked her way with her arms. "Why in such hurry?", she asked and wiggled with her eyebrows.

"Then, tell me, what´s the Price to pass? No pun intended, of course." Rachel winked at the end of her sentence.

"I don't know, try it.", she suggested shrugging her arms innocently. "I am on top, so better don't provoke me, Price." It took no full second until their lips interlocked again. And yes, Chloe could definitely get used to this.

"You see?", Chloe began after they separated and took her arms back, "I am cheap customs."

"You are unbelievable, that's what you are."

"That, too. But whatever – where do you want to spend your first night in freedom?"

"Drive me to a place where I can see the stars and the sea!"

"Thy will be done, Prospera."

"I give my thanks to Thee, Ariel."

* * *

It took half an hour of driving until they had to stop at a gas station to fill up the tank. It was already dark; a cloudless, clear night full of stars up the black sky.

"I guess we have to do something illegal. Otherwise, our journey to a pleasant beach will take a bit longer than night is left.", Chloe stated and turned into a parking lot at a gas station.

"Something illegal? You mean like…fill up the tank as full as possible and then – what a pity – forget to pay?", Rachel said with a dramatically shocked voice.

"I am afraid to tell you this is exactly what I meant.", Chloe nodded and turned towards Rachel, "And I guess we should make use of our enormous acting talent again."

"What do you have in mind, Chloe Price?"

"You will get out of the car, go into the store to buy a pack of gum or whatever and distract this young handsome guy in there", Chloe pointed at the cashier inside the small gas station shop, "So meanwhile I can get some gas inside our tank and he won't notice. Afterward, you come out here and I will pick you up and we will leave as if we did not come here to refuel at all." She ended her explanation with crossing her arms satisfied.

"Chloe Badass Price. I am flashed by your skills of making up evil plans. But can you stand seeing me flirt with this dude?"

"If it gets to hardcore I will come in and punch him in his face. He won´t ask for his money after that anyway." Chloe closed her hands into fists and demonstrated Rachel a few of her punches.

"Wooow, Chloe, I am glad I am not the air you´re fighting there!", she mocked and showed her respect with her facial expression. "You better are!", Chloe agreed and looked at Rachel in expectation for her to leave the car, which she did with an evil smile on her lips.

Chloe waited until Rachel entered the shop. Then she got out of the car and discovered something useful. She found a large box of jerry cans near the entry, so she could take them instead of driving to one of the fuel pumps, which would have been way more risky, although she trusted Rachel´s flirting skills. She sneaked crutched below the shop´s windows to the box, grabbed two of the cans and placed them on the truck bed when she returned. She made her way up to the jerry cans two more times and scammed six cans in total. She looked inside the shop and saw Rachel talking to the other guy. She bent over to him bracing at the counter with her elbows, probably presenting him her cleavage with a gorgeous smile. Chloe had to swallow at this, but she trusted Rachel and the fact that fuel worth more than a hundred dollars would be theirs as soon as they left the gas station made her cheerful. It took two more minutes until Rachel turned around and came out of the store. Chloe picked her up at the entry.

"So, did you made your first runaway-romance in there?", Chloe welcomed her and stepped on the gas. She held out the pack of gum to Chloe but instead pulled one out to feed Chloe with it when she realized she had no free hand to pull one out herself. "Next time you send me to flirt with a guy, better check if he's gay beforehand.", Rachel gave back and started laughing. "No chance! Are you serious?" "Yep, totally gay. He even wore a rainbow bracelet." "But how could you distract him then? I mean, you are gorgeous and everything, but…"

Rachel smirked.

"I told him I am, too."


	3. Fix me please

**Chapter 3**

Chloe found a little beach beneath a high coast somewhere besides a long highway somewhere in Oregon somewhere in the USA. She drove more than an hour after they filled up the tank half a mile past the gas station and neither of them knew where they were. But the best thing about their escape was the fact that it didn't matter anymore. No one out there in the world would care for them and they would not care for anybody else in the world but themselves. Chloe parked at the edge of the cliffs and used the blankets she found at the junkyard to cover up the rusty truck bed. She also arranged their bags at the partition between truck bed and the driver's cab, so they would have a back rest and a somewhat comfortable pillow for the night.

"Should we lit a fire?", Rachel asked and took a look for some wood around. "We don't have something to cook anyway, so.."

"You think I would kidnap you on a trip to nowhere with me without making sure I have something to feed you with?", Rachel responded and opened her back. She took out two packs of cup noodles. "Where did you get that?"

"I didn't just buy gum at the gas station, dope.", she laughed and gave the noodles to Chloe while she rummaged for some camping dishes Chloe had no idea she brought along. Rachel starred her with an expecting face. "If you want something to eat you should lit a fire."

"Of course, My Lady, but beforehand-", she stopped mid sentence and dropped the cans, "I have another idea." She grabbed Rachel's hand and trailed her with her. They ran down the cliff a few metres besides the car. The stone was broken off, so it built erratic tiers good enough to work as stairs to reach the beach underneath. Just the second Chloe's foot hit the sand, her phone buzzed in her jeans. The girls stopped their run and Chloe grabbed her phone to read the text message.

 _Mum: "Will you come home tonight? We miss you. Will you accept David's request to start all over? Please. I love you." -_

Chloe stared at her display rather mentally absent. Somehow she suppressed the thought so far that she just decided to not just leave Backwell and Arcadia Bay with Rachel for an infinitely long road trip, but also left her mother alone with that dickhead David. How should she tell her she was leaving for a long time, maybe forever?

"Chloe?", interrupted Rachel her thoughts. She felt her hand on her shoulder. "Is everything alright?" Chloe finally lifted her head, but she avoided Rachel's gaze. "It's my mom. I dunno what to tell her. She wants me to come home." She showed the message to Rachel. After a few seconds she answered: "Be honest."

"What do you mean?"

"Tell her, that you will be absent for a while. That you need some space and time to back away from the things that happened. That she should not search for you. That you are safe and she should not worry. She deserves that you tell her the truth."

"Don't you think that she would drive crazy if I told her I vanished to somewhere and asked her to stay calm about that?" Rachel shrugged and nodded. "Maybe. But you should answer something, really. That would be fair."

Chloe looked at her phone again and hesitantly typed a response.

 _"Hi Mum. I have to tell you something and please don't flip...I will be gone for a while. I need some time to think and so on. I am in good company, so please don't worry about me. I am fine. Love you, too." -_

She hesitated a large moment until she typed "send", but she felt a huge weight falling of her mind when she did. A smile sneaked back on her face. Rachel exhaled in relief. "You okay?", she asked.

"I am feeling great!", she claimed and smirked teasingly at Rachel, "So are you going to swim with me?"

"You betcha!"

They got rid of their redundant clothes and ran hand in hand into the black, shiny water. The moon was almost full that night and shone silvern above their heads. The water was pleasantly warm; although Rachel shrieked when Chloe teasingly splashed water in her face. "Stop!", she screamed and held her arms up her face for protection, but Chloe was not willing to stop. Rachel took revenge soon and a few seconds later the girls had a heavy water splash fight at some sea somewhere in Oregon. It seemed to last forever as no one was willing to give up, but after a few minutes both of them gasped in exhaustment and wordless arranged a armistice. The water slowly settled down from the recent stir and both girls just drifted on the water on their backs, looking into the thousands of stars above them.

"Chloe", Rachel said and broke the silence.

"Yeah?"

"Could you forgive my parents in my place?", she asked and turned her head as far as the water allowed to watch Chloe's reaction. It took a while until she received a response:

"I mean...you were old enough to know the truth for years. And they decided to continue lying to you instead. So it`s your turn to decide how you react to that. And taking a timeout now to think about how you will deal with this is okay."

"I know. But how would you decide in my situation? Should I forgive them?"

"Not now.", Chloe said and thought immediately of her own situation. And how she still did not forgive her father for leaving her, although it was not even his fault. So how could Rachel forgive her father, who was actually to blame for it? At first she thought it was sea water on her face and not a tear running down her cheek. She closed her eyes to prevent more tears from falling. How did it happen that she became so emotional recently? Although she had decided to just don`t care anymore to protect herself. Nothing seemed to work anymore. Everything seemed to to break apart. And yet she had the chance to start all over now. Deep in her thoughts she didn't notice that Rachel, who had seen that tear, crossed the few feet distance between them, stood up behind her and gave her a kiss on the forehead. Chloe felt like her head would explode from endorphins. How did she do that? Mess her head so much? Nevertheless she couldn't prevent the tears from running down her face and she stood up and wiped them away hastily.

"Chloe...", Rachel said in a soft voice and reached out for her friend's shoulder. She swam around her and lifted her chin up with her other hand. She saw the pain in her eyes. She was intending to hug her but it was Chloe who was faster with pulling her into a tight hug, hiding her face at Rachel's shoulder. Rachel embrace her back and couldn't resist to also start crying.

It was this moment that connected their broken souls forever.


End file.
